Lili

Before I announce the release date of my third single, I would like to conclude Summer by sharing the top 10 reasons why I love my first single and music video!

1. Summer was the first song I jammed with my friends in the Philippines.

I had a few songs I wanted to jam with them, but Summer was the least developed one, and with their help, I turned it into my first single! Eventually my friends became my go to bandmates and advisors for music. They are also in my music video. 

2. The song and music video are dedicated to my soul sister, Di.

If you’re wondering why a tall blond woman is so prominent in my video, it is because she was my inspiration for writing the song. We were both foreigners and stranded in Indonesia when the lockdown happened, and we both learned how to surf together. 

3. The bridge inspired the concept of the video.

The lyrics of the bridge are actual activities Di and I did on the island. We’re both into documentation, so I knew there would be pictures of our adventures, and I wanted to highlight this in the video.

4. The music video is an ode to the joy of surfing.

Plenty of shots feature the kids we surfed with at our home break, Squealers. That is where Di and I both started learning how to surf, so a lot of the footage you see is really more about fun than expertise! 

5. Some of my favorite personal surf footage was used.

Luckily we stayed long enough to improve our surf, and so I’m quite proud of some of the footage of me surfing because I know how much work I put into reaching that level! In case you didn’t know, that’s me at the end of the video 🙂 

6. I learned so much editing the music video myself.

It’s not perfect, but I poured a lot of love into it, and I learned so much in the process. I gained a valuable new skill in video editing and saved a bit of money learning to do it myself. 

7. The song and video has such good vibes.

I love the way I danced to it with my jumper and the way I jammed with my bandmates on the tennis court. It was so easy to get into it because the song really brought out the moves!

8. Two Lili’s appear!

They come in when I add voicing in the song, so aside from it looking super cool and fun, it’s also pretty awesome and representative. 

9. There are some epic personal shots I got to use.

One would be two surfers playing air guitar with their boards, and the other would be when I dove underwater and the camera transitioned to coming out of the water.

10. The music video is uploaded on Vevo.

I grew up discovering music from YouTube, and those music videos I watched had vevo on it, so I find it cool that I’m now one of those artists that have the brand. Vevo is a video hosting service that offers artists a global platform to showcase their music videos. Only through labels and distribution partners can one get on Vevo, so it’s pretty exclusive. 

And that’s a wrap, folks! Hope you all enjoyed watching and reading about Summer, because I sure enjoyed making it (despite all the problems I encountered, haha!). Here’s to good vibes and sunnier days ahead. 🙂